Junk foods will soon have labels warning of high salt, sugar and fat
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has agreed to introduce red front-of-pack warning labels on packaged foods and beverages found high in salt, sugar, or fat
Proposed labels will use terms such as "HIGH FAT," "HIGH SUGAR," "HIGH SALT," and "HIGHLY SWEETENED BEVERAGE," displayed in a red-coloured warning format on the front of the pack
The move follows Supreme Court directions in petitions seeking regulatory action against unhealthy food products, with the Court holding that transparent nutritional disclosure is necessary to protect consumers, especially children, from diet-linked disease risk
Implementation is planned in a phased manner, giving manufacturers time to adjust formulations or comply with the new labelling requirement
The proposal has drawn opposition from parts of the packaged food industry, citing concerns over its impact on sales of processed and traditional snack products
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and Its Statutory Basis
FSSAI is the statutory body responsible for regulating and supervising food safety in India, established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (FSS Act), which consolidated multiple pre-existing food laws (including the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954) into a single framework. It functions under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and is empowered to lay down science-based standards for food articles, including labelling and packaging requirements, through subordinate regulations such as the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020.
Key Details
- Enacted: 2006; FSSAI was formally established in 2008 and became fully operational in August 2011 with the notification of the FSS Rules, 2011 and the six Principal Regulations
- Composition: Chairperson and Members appointed by the Central Government; headquartered in New Delhi with regional offices
- FSSAI standards are enforced through the FSS Act's licensing and inspection regime; violations attract penalties under the Act, including fines and, for repeat/serious offences, imprisonment
- Front-of-pack warning labels would be introduced via an amendment to the Labelling and Display Regulations, 2020, which currently mandates only back-of-pack nutritional information panels
FSSAI's decision to adopt warning labels represents an exercise of its regulation-making power under the FSS Act, moving India from a back-of-pack disclosure regime toward a more consumer-facing, front-of-pack warning system.
Judicial Push for Food Regulation — Public Interest Litigation and Article 21
The Supreme Court's directive to FSSAI to frame front-of-pack warning norms arose from public interest litigation invoking the right to health as part of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution. Courts have repeatedly held that the right to life includes the right to a healthy environment and protection from public health hazards, extending this reasoning to food safety regulation when statutory bodies are seen as delaying action.
Key Details
- The petitions argued that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) linked to poor diet — obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease — account for a large share of disease burden in India
- The Court rejected industry arguments that labelling would unfairly single out Indian snack foods, holding that public health considerations outweigh commercial interests
- This follows a broader pattern of courts directing regulatory bodies to act under Article 21 read with Directive Principles (Article 47 — State's duty to raise nutrition levels and public health)
The FSSAI's warning-label decision is a direct regulatory response to judicial directions, illustrating how PIL-driven judicial review can compel statutory regulators to expand consumer protection standards.
Front-of-Pack Labelling (FOPL) — Global Comparative Models
Front-of-pack labelling is a food-policy tool used internationally to communicate nutritional risk at a glance, without requiring consumers to interpret detailed nutrition tables. Models vary from mandatory octagonal/hexagonal warning stamps (Chile, Mexico) to voluntary interpretive systems like traffic-light labelling (UK) or summary scores like Nutri-Score (used in several EU countries).
Key Details
- Chile (2016) was the first country to mandate black octagonal "high in" warning stamps on sugar, sodium, saturated fat, and calories, based on WHO-recommended nutrient profiling
- Mexico adopted a similar mandatory black octagon warning system in 2020
- FSSAI's proposed red hexagonal warning label design draws on this "warning label" tradition rather than the milder traffic-light or star-rating approaches used elsewhere
- India's earlier proposed Indian Nutrition Rating (star-rating) system, floated around 2022, faced criticism for being industry-friendly and less effective than warning-style labels — a key reason for the shift toward the current red-warning approach
FSSAI's red-label approach places India closer to the stricter Chile/Mexico model of front-of-pack regulation rather than the softer star-rating or voluntary disclosure systems previously considered.
- Regulator: Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006
- Judicial bench directing action: Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran, Supreme Court of India
- Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) account for roughly 60% of all deaths in India (about 5.87 million annually)
- Proposed warning categories: HIGH FAT, HIGH SUGAR, HIGH SALT, HIGHLY SWEETENED BEVERAGE
- Comparable global precedents: Chile (2016, mandatory octagonal warnings), Mexico (2020, mandatory octagonal warnings)
- Current governing regulation to be amended: Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020